Singapore Press Holdings (T39.SG) is gaining from faster-than-expected recovery in advertising spending, says UOB KayHian, which is maintaining its “buy” call on the property and media company with a $4.40 target price.
“Ad spend growth has finally turned positive,” says the brokerage house. Based on the page count of its Saturday papers, growth of advertising spending is estimated to have improved from –16% in September and –7% in October to positive growth of 9% in November.
The following companies may have unusual price changes in trading today, say Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters. Share prices are from the previous close. Singapore’s Straits Times Index climbed 1.4% to 2,770.95 last evening.
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed to its highest close in 14 months lat night as a weak dollar boosted natural resource companies’ shares and economic data reinforced hopes for a sustainable recovery.
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) says it announced to its staff today that it will restore 50% of the pay cuts introduced in April. In addition, SPH will give special one-off amounts to staff to thank them for the sacrifice and contributions they made.
In March, SPH announced pay cuts of between 2% and 10% of basic monthly salaries, depending on salary levels. The pay cuts, effective 1 April, did not affect staff earning $2,000 or less in monthly pay.
CIMB in a Nov 18 research report says: “We earlier believed that SPH’s bid price of $2,797psf for a Clementi mall site represented a hefty premium over comparable malls. Since then, SPH’s share price has weakened. The large premium it put in over the second highest bid (42% premium) meant that SPH was unlikely to lose the tender. Thus, it was not much of a surprise when SPH announced that it has won the tender.
SPH Holdings, the city-state’s biggest newspaper publisher, said full-year profit fell 3.6% amid a slump in advertising spending.
Net income fell to $421.9 million, or 26 cents a share, in the year ended Aug 31, from $437.4 million, or 27 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. That beat the $395.7 million median of three analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales were little SPH said revenue from newspapers and magazines fell amid the economic slump.
